takin’ this party inside

It’s been raining like mad the past couple weeks, so forget about climbing around Santa Barbara. Unless you like climbing gyms. I do. Phil and I went to Vertical Heaven last Saturday. There’s plenty inherently wrong with gyms. The worst thing is the crowds – and by ‘crowds’ I mean the legions of rippers – and by ‘rippers’ I mean the hippies, stoners, equipment collectors, dropouts from other sports, girl scouts, “artists”, etc. that post up at climbing gyms the world over. Something about this sport is really attractive to the rippers. They do not climb hard and they are stupid. And I’ve learned this: they do not wake up early. So, Phil and I got to Vertical Heaven in Ventura as they opened at 10:30 AM. It was great. We did a bunch of routes in and around their cave then bouldered. This gym is laid out well and the setters have done a great job, making this one of the best gyms I’ve been to. I had forgotten how gymnastic routes are in a gym (obvious, maybe). There was a lot of jumping and swinging around and that’s what’s fun to me.

2 Replies to “takin’ this party inside”

i agree, and rippers definitely don’t lead. i will be by myself in the lead area (which is 50% of the gym). “I would rather sit alone on a pumpkin than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” – Henry David Thoreau

For the record, there’s rippers all over the outside climbing scene too, but you don’t need me to tell you this, you know this. Climber’s are inherently lame (myself included) and it will always be that way.Boulderers Rip (so that’s a v6 right?)!Sport Climbers Rip (leading or not)!Trad Folks Rip, real hard!It’s unavoidable. We’re lame, we will always be lame. Any attempt to avoid it will only make it worse. Climbing sucks, and we all love it. YEAH! Now I’m going to blaze my face off.